Having a hard time with including Dragonborn in your Campaign setting?
- Thread starter Gundark
- Start date
Fallen Seraph
First Post
Well funny enough it is one of the original races that I have the hardest time including in my campaigns and that is the Dwarves.
As for the Dragonborn, I will probably house-rule some differences into them, then perhaps use them for something.
As for the Dragonborn, I will probably house-rule some differences into them, then perhaps use them for something.
A'koss
Explorer
I'm also starting to put together a new campaign for 4e and this is something I've been giving some thought to as well. What I'd like to try and do is play up the racial animosity between the Tieflings and the Dragonborn. I like that angle, and it serves a purpose in my game as it's largely about "getting along with the new neighbours".
As my game takes place in the Elemental Chaos, these two isolated, floating pseudo-kingdoms continue to have a great deal of animosity towards one another, even though the empires that they were originally a part of on the Prime have long since fallen. And when their kingdoms are inexhoribly drawn to and merge with main campaign setting, the fun begins. Later new "neighbours" get drawn into the setting, which continue to expand the campaign.
Definitely like to play up a few skirmishes/mini-wars between them, the main campaign having to choose whether to take sides or try and broker for peace. Of course, they may be the least problematic of the "new neighbours" when the campaign swings by the City of Brass, the Abyss...
As my game takes place in the Elemental Chaos, these two isolated, floating pseudo-kingdoms continue to have a great deal of animosity towards one another, even though the empires that they were originally a part of on the Prime have long since fallen. And when their kingdoms are inexhoribly drawn to and merge with main campaign setting, the fun begins. Later new "neighbours" get drawn into the setting, which continue to expand the campaign.
Definitely like to play up a few skirmishes/mini-wars between them, the main campaign having to choose whether to take sides or try and broker for peace. Of course, they may be the least problematic of the "new neighbours" when the campaign swings by the City of Brass, the Abyss...
Last edited:
Cmarco
First Post
Well, I've been debating on how to fit the dragonborn race in to my campaign. Since I started my setting back in first edition, I've had to do some adjusting to make the editions fit. My players are usually quite happy with the changes, and when I presented them with the dragonborn concept and the options I have come up with for implementing them, the usual response is: "cool"
1) I figure the dragonborn race is a way of making sense of all the templates: half-dragon, draconic, dragon-blooded, as well as the FR monster race dragon-kin. I figure this'll be better than players whining "can I play a half-dragon?" I suggested that this could be the case, and most players didn't mind the idea. This is the "they've always been there" solution (this could kind of work for my world, as it has seen a draconic empire torn asunder in the past).
2) I also figured that they could be an undiscovered race, or some similar thing. They could be from another continent (the players in my group really liked this idea, as they've only really explored the one continent). They may have strange customs and, since they worship dragon gods, different views on religion. I figure they would be a very Mesopotamian culture, as reflected by their gods and such.
I dunno. Those are just some suggestions. Cool? Not cool?
1) I figure the dragonborn race is a way of making sense of all the templates: half-dragon, draconic, dragon-blooded, as well as the FR monster race dragon-kin. I figure this'll be better than players whining "can I play a half-dragon?" I suggested that this could be the case, and most players didn't mind the idea. This is the "they've always been there" solution (this could kind of work for my world, as it has seen a draconic empire torn asunder in the past).
2) I also figured that they could be an undiscovered race, or some similar thing. They could be from another continent (the players in my group really liked this idea, as they've only really explored the one continent). They may have strange customs and, since they worship dragon gods, different views on religion. I figure they would be a very Mesopotamian culture, as reflected by their gods and such.
I dunno. Those are just some suggestions. Cool? Not cool?
Cam Banks
Adventurer
Dragonlance already has at least three races that the dragonborn stomps all over in terms of an existing niche. Draconians, which have been playable throughout 3rd edition, are not dragonborn but share many characteristics. Dragonspawn, which we provided playable rules for in Dragons of Krynn, are much more like dragonborn in some ways and yet nothing like them in others. And the bakali, the Krynnish term for the lizardfolk races (including troglodytes, kobolds, etc) have the "ancient empire servants of dragons" thing going for them, but they're not actually descended from dragons or have draconic traits.
In addition, the personality that dragonborn have been given is a lot like that of the minotaurs of Krynn - martial, possessing a sense of honor, etc.
So, basically, I don't see dragonborn becoming a part of Dragonlance. I'm hoping the race gives enough of an inspiration in terms of rules handling that draconians, dragonspawn, and bakali might be well taken care of.
Cheers,
Cam
In addition, the personality that dragonborn have been given is a lot like that of the minotaurs of Krynn - martial, possessing a sense of honor, etc.
So, basically, I don't see dragonborn becoming a part of Dragonlance. I'm hoping the race gives enough of an inspiration in terms of rules handling that draconians, dragonspawn, and bakali might be well taken care of.
Cheers,
Cam
Xethreau
Josh Gentry - Author, Wanderer
You could go with something like the Races and Classes fluff, that seems to me to be a pretty good idea.
In case you didn't know, in R&C, it says that when Io was working on his creations, he took many existing spirits and put them into bodies. The greater spirits became dragons, and the lesser ones became the 'dragonborn.' The dragonborn are the kinsman, guards, and sometimes servants of dragons. In the recent past, they had an empire, which fell in a war, and the dragonborn are now a displaced people, not unlike halflings in 3e, but instead of merchants and thieves, they are traveling mercenaries and bodyguards, who prefer to work alone.
In case you didn't know, in R&C, it says that when Io was working on his creations, he took many existing spirits and put them into bodies. The greater spirits became dragons, and the lesser ones became the 'dragonborn.' The dragonborn are the kinsman, guards, and sometimes servants of dragons. In the recent past, they had an empire, which fell in a war, and the dragonborn are now a displaced people, not unlike halflings in 3e, but instead of merchants and thieves, they are traveling mercenaries and bodyguards, who prefer to work alone.
That was really the main bit of fluff that helped sell me on the race. The default fluff for dragonborn has them as a solitary people with no cities, no villages, no real communities whatsoever, aside from the occasional small mercenary clan. You have your one parent who travels with you and mentors you on what it means to be dragonborn, and then leaves you to make your own way in the world.
They may have had an empire once, but they've fallen so far since then that there is little hope of ever regaining even a portion of their lost glory. They've managed to retain their culture at the cost of everything else they ever had. It's like you have a whole race of ronin, forever traveling the world and living according to an ancient code that no one else understands.
mhacdebhandia
Explorer
I figured out exactly what to do with the dragonborn in my setting, I've just gone off the setting itself! However:
The idea for the setting involved human settlers exiled from a growing imperial power building a new home for themselves on the coast of an unexplored continent. The PCs would be drawn from these settlers, and would be among the first to encounter the wandering dragonborn clans and remaining tiefling city-states. Such encounters would have been the first time humanity would have encountered any truly sentient humanoid race, much less two, which is why I wanted to use the least human-like of the core races.
Wizards Presents: Races and Classes reveals that the implied setting in the Fourth Edition core rules involves an ancient conflict between the tiefling and dragonborn empires which destroyed both civilisations.
I'm going to give both empires a Mesoamerican gloss - both civilisations collapsed before the arrival of the Exiles. The empire of the dragonborn was utterly annihilated, Carthage to the tieflings' Rome, and the people who survived were driven out of their former lands into a nomadic lifestyle.
. . .
The dragonborn clans of Exile are hunter-gatherers now by necessity - they retain the knowledge necessary for agriculture, and occasionally settle in one place or another for several years to farm for as long as they can. Almost inevitably, however, their settlements are destroyed and the clan forced to move on by the vengeful assaults of the tieflings, after a decade at most of cultivation.
The scales of the dragonborn range in colour from a deep gold to a harsh bronze. It is fashionable in most clans for younger individuals to polish individual scales until they shine like mirrors, forming patterns across their bodies memorialising their own deeds, or the loss of friends and relatives.
I'm going to give both empires a Mesoamerican gloss - both civilisations collapsed before the arrival of the Exiles. The empire of the dragonborn was utterly annihilated, Carthage to the tieflings' Rome, and the people who survived were driven out of their former lands into a nomadic lifestyle.
. . .
The dragonborn clans of Exile are hunter-gatherers now by necessity - they retain the knowledge necessary for agriculture, and occasionally settle in one place or another for several years to farm for as long as they can. Almost inevitably, however, their settlements are destroyed and the clan forced to move on by the vengeful assaults of the tieflings, after a decade at most of cultivation.
The scales of the dragonborn range in colour from a deep gold to a harsh bronze. It is fashionable in most clans for younger individuals to polish individual scales until they shine like mirrors, forming patterns across their bodies memorialising their own deeds, or the loss of friends and relatives.
The idea for the setting involved human settlers exiled from a growing imperial power building a new home for themselves on the coast of an unexplored continent. The PCs would be drawn from these settlers, and would be among the first to encounter the wandering dragonborn clans and remaining tiefling city-states. Such encounters would have been the first time humanity would have encountered any truly sentient humanoid race, much less two, which is why I wanted to use the least human-like of the core races.
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